The first picture below is the diamond-ring effect from the beginning of totality. The explanation of what causes it is a bit crazy, as the last bits of sunlight pass through the valleys on the moon combined and the faint corona around the Sun is just becoming visible, it looks like a ring with glittering diamonds on it.
Pictures all taken relatively primitively, using a Orion Starblast 4.5 inch reflector with a solar film added, and a Sony mirrorless camera manually held near the eyepiece to focus.
All pictures are from roadside near Scottsbluff NE, which was about 6 hours west of where we originally planned on viewing the eclipse as we chased the blue sky by driving west that morning.
